Overview

TechForum 2004: Looking at Dead & Emerging Technologies

Darlene Fichterhttp://library.usask.ca/~fichter/

Data Library Coordinator, U of S Library

Dead and emerging technologies

Fear & technology– Futurists– Some “Dead”– Some “Emerging”

William Gibson’s Observation

“the future is already here,

it’s just unevenly distributed”

What do the futurists say?

George GilderChairman of Great Barrington, Mass.-based Gilder Publishing, is

also a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute

Ray Kurzweil Inventor of, among other things, music synthesizers and a

reading machine for the blind

Jaron LanierComputer scientist, artist and virtual reality pioneer (he coined

the term virtual reality)

Darwin Magazine, May 2002

George Gilder

What's the most dangerous part of the car?The nut behind the wheel

Ray Kurzweil

Not willing to “label” anything, but …– Biotechnology and nanotechnology are

exponentially more powerful than any technology of the past

– Nanotechnology -- the creation of tiny, intelligent self-replicating devices

Millipede Chip - A way of storing a terabit of data on a chip no bigger than a postage stamp has been developed by IBM.

Jaron Lanier

20th century, one-way mass media, such as radio and TV, because it can incite mass violence– 21st century, smart mobs?

Integration of IT and biotechnology

Transplant?

Chip designed to replace the hippocampus - part of the brain used to store memories

Cyborg Cybrary

www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993488

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

How do you know that the sky is falling, Chicken Little?" asked Henny Penny

"I saw it with my eyes, I heard it with my ears, and a bit of it fell on my head," said Chicken Little

The Internet is dead!

It’s everywhere– Spam– Viruses

Any RSS fans out there?

Any email users with Eudora, or antiquarian email programs?

Nature’s answer

Biodiversity– Think about it

What do I think is waning?

Laptops are for weight lifters

Barcodes

Library cards

One exception

Michael Sauers

www.webpan.com/msauers/libdir/cards/

What do I think is waxing?

Links rule, social software

Fear of links? 1999“While professional journalists turn up their noses,

weblog pioneers invent a new, personal way to organize the Web's chaos.”

www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/1999/05/28/weblogs/

Broadband home: armchair revolutionUltimate jukebox has every

– song ever recorded– move ever made– game ever created– ? Every book …

Infinite televisionEarly adopters: 12,500 songs,125 hours of video (300

gigabytes) on tap

www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.01/wiredhome_1.html

“Broadband library”?

Digital library for the “have nots”Or full circle?

– Institutions of learningMedia literacyTrusted advisors

Bugs = Scarry?

Richard Scarry

•Taught us to love technology, tools and trucks

Fear of technology

Did you know that the Stimulus-Response conditioning can be reversed?

Human Interface

Technology – HIT Lab

Technology reducing fear?

Cyberhand

Thank you